Vael's limbs felt wrong. Cold. Numb. Heavy. He tried to lift his arm, but it barely moved, trembling under its own weight.
Then came the headache. A sharp, searing pain that split his skull like jagged glass. Images flashed in his mind gunshots, screams, blood and suddenly, he remembered.
The gangsters… the bullets… the headshot…
Panic surged. He forced his body to move, staggering upright with more willpower than strength.
Damn… how am I still alive?
He blinked. His room. It should have been his cramped, dirty room small, familiar, suffocating. But it wasn't.
The room he found himself in was worse. A thin, stained mattress lay on the floor. A warped wardrobe stood crookedly across from him. A broken mirror leaned against the wall. And most horrifying of all a huge, gaping hole ripped through the side of the building, revealing a world of ruin outside.
Vael staggered to the window. His breath caught.
Destroyed buildings stretched as far as he could see, jagged steel and shattered concrete piercing the smoky sky. Fires burned in the distance, black smoke curling like fingers reaching for him.
And then he saw it.
A wolf. Gigantic, ravenous, its jaws tearing through the flesh of a human. Screams echoed in the ruins, fading as quickly as they came.
His stomach turned. He stumbled toward the broken mirror and puked violently, bile burning his throat, his stomach twisting in disgust.
When he wiped his mouth and looked up, his reflection froze him in place.
It wasn't his face.
Not really.
Smoother. Paler. Jawline sharper, cheekbones more defined. And the eyes… piercing blue, unnaturally vivid, almost glowing. It was better looking than he had ever been in life, a face that could have belonged to someone born into power, not hardship.
"What the…?" he whispered, fingers trembling as he reached toward the glass.
Then a soft blue glow appeared in the room, forming a holographic figure in front of him.
Welcome, Vael… to the world of Ashes of the Apocalyptic Future.
Vael froze, his mind spinning. "Wait… isn't that… the book?" he muttered, confusion thick in his throat.
He blinked, trying to remember something something important. His little brother's name hovered on the edge of memory, but it wouldn't come. The thought brought a pang of sadness, sharper than any pain he had felt before.
A sharp ting echoed through the room. Vael's gaze snapped back to the hologram.
The figure now flickered, words appearing in bold blue letters:
LOADING WORLD… POWER SYSTEM
Vael stared, completely bewildered. His heart raced. Power system? What the hell…?
Everything was wrong. Everything was terrifying. And yet… for the first time in years, a strange spark of anticipation ran through him.